Food Surplus Reduction Act

Denie Office of the forcitar? TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session FEB -5 P2:54 SENATE RECEIVED BY: S. No. 1763 Introduced by Senator Camille A. Villar AN ACT REDUCING WASTAGE BY DONATING AND RECYCLING EXCESS EDIBLE FOOD EXPLANATORY NOTE In the Philippines today, millions suffer from malnutrition and hunger despite abundant food production while food-related businesses discard vast amounts of edible surplus daily, contributing to environmental waste and lost resources that could feed the needy. This stark reality underscores a broken system where food insecurity persists amid plenty. At its core, this bill is deeply rooted in the mandate of the Philippine Constitution, specifically in Section 11, Article II, which upholds the inherent dignity of every human being and guarantees the full respect for fundamental human rights, including the non-negotiable right to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Nevertheless, the country still struggles with the troubling prevalence of involuntary hunger despite a massive amount of food surplus-edible food surplus. In the recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) in November 2025, although eases slightly compared to the previous September 2025 survey and hunger falls in Balance Luzon and Metro Manila, rise was still observed in Mindanao with Moderate Hunger rose by 5.7 points from 16.0% to 21.7%, while Severe Hunger rose by 1.3 point from 3.7% to 5.0%, and the Visayas with Moderate

Hunger rose by 2.0 points from 14.7% to 16.7%, while Severe Hunger rose by 0.7 points from 3.0% to 3.7%. With these figures, the paradox intensifies: while millions of Filipinos grapple with hunger quarterly, food businesses-from sari-sari stores to malls and fastfood outlets-dump tons of safe, edible excess daily nationwide. The Food Surplus Reduction Act will promote food surplus reduction hierarchy and a tool and means of reducing individual food waste. The passing of this bill will bolster food security and slash involuntary hunger by redirecting safe edible surplus from businesses straight to food banks, ensuring no nutritious rice, vegetables, or viands go to waste while directly feeding millions experiencing SWS-reported hunger spikes around the country. It mandates simple segregation-edibles go to the needy via quick inspector checks, preventing daily dumps of perfectly good food that could fill empty plates in hungry households nationwide. Furthermore, its passage guarantees fewer Filipinos skip meals involuntarily, transforms surplus into security for families, and stops edible waste at the source practical steps to a hunger-free Philippines and contributing to United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 "Zero Hunger." Lastly, it transforms urban market food surplus into dining tables for the food insecure households, and barangay bins into biogas boons, honoring our 1987 Constitution's food security vow-before another survey spikes and another harvest rots. As such, the approval of this measure is urgently sought. Cameliciria CAMILLE A. VILLAR

Office of the secretare TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES First Regular Session 26 FEB -5 P2:54 SENATE RECEIVED BY: S. No. 1763 Introduced by Senator Camille A. Villar AN ACT REDUCING WASTAGE BY DONATING AND RECYCLING EXCESS EDIBLE FOOD Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Food Surplus

Reduction Act".

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State recognizes that each person has a

right to an adequate standard of living, including sufficient, safe, quality and nutritious food. It is hereby declared a policy of the State to attain food security, end hunger, and promote the efficient use of the country's food resources. The considerable number of people going hungry daily is a breach of human right that this Act intends to address and correct, and the massive amount of food surplus presents an opportunity for the State to address hunger and its efforts to improve the quality of life of the underprivileged. Toward this end, the State shall adopt a system to promote, facilitate and ensure the reduction of food surplus through redistribution and recycling. The State shall likewise implement measures to make it mandatory to donate edible food surplus for charitable purposes.

Sec. 3. Definition of Terms - As used in this Act:

a) Edible food surplus - excess food or surplus food in the retail and consumption stages, determined to be fit for human consumption based on the applicable standards of food quality and safety; b) Food banks - non-profit, charitable or other social mission-oriented organizations that collect donations of edible food items and distribute them to the food insecure; c) Food insecure- persons or groups of persons who have no means and/or have difficulty producing or purchasing food; d) Food surplus reduction - to the decrease of food surplus through the redistribution of food surplus to the food insecure or the recycling of food as fertilizer or compost; e) Food-related business - public and private businesses involved in the manufacturing and processing of food products, private businesses involved in the wholesaling and retailing of food products, private businesses involved in serving food products, and private institutions offering courses in the art and science of preparation, cooking and presentation of food; and f) Inedible food surplus - food discarded in the retail and consumption stages, determined to be unfit for human consumption, including prepackaged food products that have gone beyond their declared expiry dates.

Sec. 4. Covered Establishments. - The establishments covered by this Act are

as follows: a) Food manufacturers, notwithstanding any restriction imposed by any existing law and regulation on food manufacturers: Provided, That any donation made by such manufacturers under the provisions of this Act shall constitute an exception to the applicability of restrictions under existing laws and regulations as long as the product to be donated has no safety and quality issue, no untruthful information or health claims or any information that can mislead the consumers; b) Food establishments (restaurants, cafes, diners, fast food chains or hotels);

c) Supermarkets with at least five hundred (500) square meters of selling space; and d) Culinary schools which offer culinary, baking and pastry courses with at least fifty (50) students.

Sec. 5. Determination of Food Insecure. - The criteria for the determination

of a food insecure person or group, will be made by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in coordination with local government units (LGUs).

Sec. 6. National Zero-Food Waste Campaign. - The National Nutrition Council

(NNC), in close coordination with the DSWD, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Heaith (DOH), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), other concerned agencies and LGUs, shall undertake a National Zero-Food Waste Campaign to raise awareness on the impact of a food surplus and strategies to decrease wasted food starting at the household level. The campaign shall also promote the food surplus reduction hierarchy and recommend means of reducing individual food waste. To educate the younger generation, the DepEd shall have the duty to ensure that the prescribed curriculum includes informative materials on the following: a) Current global and national food waste situation; b) Ways to minimize food surplus; c) National and local food surplus prevention programs; d) Food recovery; and e) Pertinent provisions of this Act.

Sec. 7. Edible Food Surplus Distribution Steps. - The following steps shall be

followed in edible food surplus distribution: a) The owners of the covered establishments will segregate their edible and inedible food surplus; b) To facilitate distribution, food manufacturers may opt to perform the segregation of their products at the supermarkets that sell their

products, bearing in mind the exclusion of all physically damaged food container such as tainted or tarnished label which may render it unreadable, dented, smashed, rusted, swollen, corroded food container or any similar condition which may render the food unsafe. For consumer protection and consistency with the existing policy, any processed food for donation shall have at least 12 months remaining shelf-life; c) Before a donation is made, a duly trained sanitary inspector of the LGU will check if the edible food surplus is fit for human consumption; d) Upon determination that the edible food surplus conforms to the standard and policy, it will be donated to accredited food banks, as determined by the DSWD; and e) Food banks, in coordination with the DSWD and LGUs will distribute the edible food surplus to the food insecure.

Sec. 8. Food-related Business Surplus Reduction Strategy. - The owners

of food-related businesses such as food manufacturers, supermarkets, restaurants, cafeterias, culinary schools and hotels shall: a) Submit their respective reports to the DSWD and DENR containing data on the amount (in tons) of its edible and inedible food surplus, organized according to the manner of disposal, including donation, composting, or discarding; b) Enter into a contract with food banks to redistribute edible food surplus to the food insecure; c) Ensure that edible food surplus is unadulterated and in good condition upon arrival at the food bank's distribution center; and d) Enter into a contract with waste management and recycling enterprises to recycle inedible food surplus.

Sec. 9. National Food Surplus Scheme. - The DSWD, as the coordinating agency

between food businesses and food banks, shall: a) Provide guidelines and standards for the collection, storage, and distribution of edible food donated to food banks; b) Ensure that food businesses have entered into contracts with food banks and issue acceptance certificates to food businesses;

c) Ensure that food banks have adequate and appropriate storage for the edible food surplus especially the highly perishable food; d) Promote linkages between food banks and LGUs to create a community- based food distribution system for the food insecure; and e) Create a Self-Sufficiency Program that will provide the food insecure with skills training in managing food banks and livelihood programs to avoid the dependence on donation solely.

Sec. 10. Responsibility of LGUs in Waste Reduction Strategy. - LGUs are hereby

required to: a) Submit a report that contains data on the amount (in tons) of inedible food surplus that can be recycled as raw materials for fertilizers or compost, livestock feed or sources of biofuel to the DA and DENR; b) Initiate a waste segregation effort per household, ensuring inedible food surplus are not mixed with garbage otherwise garbage found with food waste will not be collected; c) Shoulder the cost of transporting inedible food surplus from collection areas to waste management sites; d) Enter into contract with waste management and recycling enterprises to recycle inedible food waste into fertilizer or compost, livestock feed or sources of biofuel; and e) Facilitate the distribution of fertilizer or compost to farms and community gardening associations.

Sec. 11. Training of Sanitary Inspectors. - The NNC shall, in coordination with

the University of the Philippines College of Public Health and LGUs, conduct regular trainings on the proper handling, collection, distribution and determination of edible and inedible food surplus which includes microbiology, parasitology of food contaminant and the standards for the classification of food quality.

Sec. 12. Liability Protection. - To protect the food donors from possible

abuses, and encourage donations, the liability of owners of the food-related businesses is limited only to the time that they have possession of the food surplus. Once a donation is received by the accredited food banks and/or farms, the owners shall be exempt from any liability or injury arising therefrom.

Sec. 13. Prohibition of Selling Edible and Inedible Food Surplus. - The reselling

of donated edible and inedible food surplus is strictly prohibited. The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon anyone caught reselling donated food surplus. If the offender is a juridical entity, the responsible officers will be held liable for said violation.

Sec. 14. Penal Provisions. - The penalty of a fine amounting to Five hundred

thousand pesos (P500,000) shall be imposed upon any individual, private or public entity, who makes edible food surplus unfit for human consumption. The same penalty is applicable to private or public persons or entities who prevent the redirection of edible food surplus to food banks or inedible food surplus to waste management and recycling enterprises. The fines shall be imposed as follows: First time offenders One million pesos (P1,000,000) Second time offenders One million five hundred thousand pesos (P1,500,000) Third time offenders Two million pesos (P2,000,000) Fourth time offenders Three million pesos (P3,000,000) Fifth time offenders and up Five million pesos (P5,000,000)

Sec. 15. Supervision. - The NNC, in coordination with the DSWD, shall

supervise the enforcement and implementation of this Act.

Sec. 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within sixty (60) days from the

effectivity of this Act, the NNC, in coordination with DSWD, DILG, DENR, DOST, DepEd and DOH, shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.

Sec. 17. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid, or

unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain valid and subsisting.

Sec. 18. Repealing Clause. - All other laws, presidential decrees or issuances,

executive orders, letters of instruction, administrative orders, rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed,

modified, or amended accordingly.

Sec. 19. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its

publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. Approved,